Beautiful Books: October 2014

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This month’s round of questions are about plot. I’ll be answering them about my NaNoWriMo project.

What came first: characters or plot idea? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Characters and a couple of scenes.

I lean toward pantsing more than plotting, though I tend to combine the two methods.

Do you have a title and/or a “back-cover-blurb”?

I’m currently calling the novel Trace.

The blurb is a work-in-progress. (Again, I’m procrastinating on writing a blurb.)

What word count are you aiming for when your novel is finished?

Since it’s NaNoWriMo, I’ll be aiming for at least 50,000 words. I think the story may end between 50,000–60,000 words.

Sum up your novel in 3 sentences.

Aven Reese didn’t think traveling through time was possible, much less that her costar Rett could be a time traveler. Cue Gavin Sinclair, a time traveler who has made it his goal to keep a rogue traveler from changing a part of the past. Aven must choose whether to help Gavin or let him deal with the problem on his own. (Well, that’s sort of a blurb. At least, it’s a possible starting point!)Sum up your characters in one word each.

Rett: Moody.

Aven: Tentative.

Gavin: Focused.

Which character are you most excited to write? Tell us about them!

Definitely Rett. I actually know more about him than any of the other characters.

Basically, he’s a retired time traveler. He’s classy but can be a bit gruff. He tends to be reserved, though he is always hiding something just under the surface of his calm appearance.

What about your villain? Who is he, what is his goal?

Weeellll. There may be two villains, but I’m not sure yet about one of them.

The goals are kind of spoilers—so, I can’t say very much, other than that it involves changing the past.

What is your protagonist’s goal? And what stands in the way?

Aven has been contacted by Gavin regarding whether or not she wants to help him stop someone from changing a past event.

Aven’s hesitancy plays a large part in her decision-making process. Also, the antagonists of the story are determined to change the event, and don’t pay much mind toward possible consequences of their actions, which makes them more than a little dangerous.

In summary, my protagonists want to maintain balance, I guess.

What inciting incident begins your protagonist’s journey?

Gavin’s entrance to the story.

Where is your novel set?

There are a few places, but one of them is Los Angeles.

What are three big scenes in your novel that change the game completely?

Gavin’s entrance will probably be a pivotal scene for several reasons.

The aforementioned event involving Rett.

And...the third might involve a character death or two. (I’m still weighing that scene, and whether it’s even necessary, at this point.)

What is the most dynamic relationship your character has? Who else
do they come in contact with or become close to during the story?

This is kind of a hard question to answer.

Maybe the relationship between Aven and Gavin? Because of meeting him, she starts to look at her decisions and questioning the reasons why she makes them. How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?

I think Aven will be more confident and sure. Do you have an ending in mind, or do you plan to see what happens?

I have an ending in mind, but I’m not totally against a new one taking its place if the story turns out differently than I think it will. I don’t want to force an ending that won’t really work.

What are your hopes and dreams for your book? What impressions are
you hoping this novel will leave on your readers and yourself? (This is
your mission statement, one you can look back on when the road gets
tough.)

Wow. Um...

I want to have fun writing this book. It’s been an idea in my head for a while now, so I’m excited to start writing it.I want to keep this in mind during this first draft.

It would be cool to eventually see it published one day, and for people to have as much fun reading it as I’ve had planning (and, hopefully will, writing) it. I don’t expect it to be the kind of story that people would call “life-changing,” but I do hope it is one they enjoy reading.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo this year, you can find me on the site here.

I was a little concerned that "Aven" and "Gavin" would look/sound to similar for the same book, but those are the names the characters arrived with, and they suited them too well to change them. So they stayed. :)

Okay, first of all I love your character names! And time travel? Awesome. I love time travel books but I don't think I could write one, maybe one that went only to the future? Not anything that goes to the past. Anyways this sounds like a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy writing it! =)

This will be my first attempt at writing time travel, but I'm hoping it turns out well. :) This one has a few scenes in the past, but I haven't decided yet if I have them going very far in to the future. (Making timelines for this one has been confusing, to say the least, hehe.)

YOU'RE WRITING A TIME-TRAVEL NOVEL! I'm already interested. I feel like there's so many aspects of time travel I haven't read about yet. =D What you said about endings is what a lot of people seem to be saying. It really is hard to know until you get there. =o Good luck with your book!

There have definitely been some planning surprises for getting this idea ready (especially keeping track of "when" everyone is), but it's been pretty fun so far. Hopefully, it won't be too confusing to write though. :)